Training buddies are the shit

Last year I moved to a small town to be with my partner and his kiddos. It has taken some time to settle in and I’m still not completely there. However, I’m starting to get to know people, and I’m noticing and enjoying the perks of small-town life more than I used to. Training has been a big issue for me since moving for lots of reasons. One of those reasons is lack of training buddies.

A few weeks ago I thought that I might be able to start a little running group, or at least a walking group. I thought of a friend of mine (and former bike coach) who started a beginner women’s mountain bike group so that she could find more women to bike with. I took that idea and thought I’d try it out. It was at a bbq at a neighbours house that I asked a couple of the women there if they were interested in walking and/or running. They were!

We were all friends on Facebook so I created a “secret” group and invited the 3 of them to join it. We decided to walk on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the morning. I assumed that because they all have small children that they would want to go early, but apparently their kids sleep in. It must be a small-town thing. Anyway, we decided on a time that isn’t as early as I would like, but could work with.

Training buddy pro: will get your butt out of bed
Training buddy con: you have to be flexible with schedule to make it work for everyone

The first day, of course, the weather decided to be rainy and cold. Two of the gals declined. One said she would come. I was impressed with her – she wore a backpack with her baby in it. He was great and enjoyed the ride despite the wind in his face. The next time we went out it was the two of us again. I told the others that I wouldn’t give up on them.

Last week we had three on on day and then on Thursday it was two of us again. That morning it was pouring rain earlier in the morning and we had two drop out (one woman has actually said that she likely wouldn’t make it at all, but we keep her in the loop anyway). I thought about bailing, but remembered that we had said RAIN OR SHINE. I posted on our little FB group that I was going and asked if I had company. The other gal almost bailed too, but saw my post and said she’d come. We hammered out a great walk and the weather was actually really nice with the sun peaking out from the clouds. I was proud of us for getting it done, even with the extra resistance from the mud on our shoes.

Consistency has been my major issue with training and just having these days of walking has created me being consistent the rest of the time. I have biked with two different people over the last two weeks and I’ve gone swimming twice. I am sitting here pretty proud of myself, actually. Any reader of this blog knows that I’ve said this before and I’ve tried to be consistent and have made great promises to myself that “this time I’m going to stick with it,” etc, etc. So I’ll make the vague and non-committal promise that:

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What is VT?

This website is one that I, Crystal Clarke, started in 2007 with big ideas. It is morphing slowly into a resourceful website for vegans and athletes alike. I put my personal touch on this website in the recipes and the training blog, as I'm a writer, a scientist, a triathlete & a vegan. So what is a vegan triathlete? Well...

vegan. n. vee-gahn. - a person who refrains from using any animal product whatever for food, clothing, or any other purpose.triathlete. n. someone who participates in races consisting of swimming, biking, and running in that order; there are several varying distances with some standard distances:
Sprint: 750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run
Olympic: 1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Half Ironman: 2km swim, 90km bike, 21.1km run
Ironman: 3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42.2km run

Who am I?

My name is Crystal Clarke. I'm a vegan triathlete. I've been vegan since 2002 and a triathlete since 2003. Since then I have completed 1 Ironman, 4 half IMs, several Olympic triathlons, and many other triathlons, duathlons, running races, and biking races. My goal for each race is to finish. I'm pretty slow, but can be a middle-of-the-pack person if I'm not injured and train consistently.

In addition to being a vegan triathlete, I'm a writer, I'm an Agrologist, I'm a soil scientist, I'm a knitter, I'm an anti-consumer, I'm an environmentalist, I'm a budding Buddhist, I'm a yogi, I'm a student of life, and I'm bipolar. I'm a lot of things! I don't fit into any one category - that's what I think sets me apart from other athlete blogs.